They drove slowly through town, and then, suddenly, they were out in the desert, and Sally Beth’s spirit sank at the brown ugliness. She had expected the desert to be an ocean of undulating, pale sand piled up in mountains with little riffles sculpted by the wind, like the pictures she had seen of that desert in China, but this lifeless, bleached soil boasted no such elegance. There was nothing but scattered rocks and scrawny, woebegone little bushes, some without roots that roamed hungrily in the wind. Not far ahead mountains shimmered behind the rising heat, but her glimpse of them seemed like only a dream dissipating into hopelessness. A strange, unsettled aura skulked about the place, and she had a momentary sensation of falling off the edge of something, as if the ground was too malevolent to keep the promises of the solid earth. Perhaps Las Vegas was built upon sin after all, and this is where the dregs of it resided. Hell was surely close by. She pulled out a canteen out of her purse and just about sucked it dry.
“What are you doing? You brought a canteen?”
“It’s dry here. And hot. I’m parched to death. My eyeballs are even drying out. Lilly, how on earth can you stand this?”
Lilly laughed. “You get used to it. But I know what you mean. Why do you think I want to come home? Here’s a Carl Jr. We can stop and get you a Coke. It’ll be another fifteen minutes before we get to my place, and as soon as we get you unloaded and changed, we’ll head back here for a night out. Sally Beth, you’re going to love Vegas!”
Sally Beth suddenly wasn’t so sure. She squinted through the haze and the heat wavering on the highway and looked toward the inhospitable, colorless mountains that did not beckon, but sat brooding in the heat like the unhealthy, sad parents of an unhealthy, sad landscape.
Oh, Lord! Do You ever come to this place? It looks like something the devil would love. She would have given a year of her life for a glimpse of a green tree just then.
Lilly lived in a shabby apartment building, but there was a pool, and Sally Beth hoped they would have time for a quick dip in it before they headed for the marquees and the spinning lights.
“Can we swim?” she asked.
“Sure. We have about an hour and a half before we have to leave.”
The pool felt like bath water, not as refreshing as the river where Sally Beth was used to swimming, but it was so hot here that even tepid water felt good. As she paddled around, careful not to get her hair wet and full of chlorine, she heard laughter, and she glanced up to see a beautiful, dark-haired man standing above her. He was wearing a bathing suit so tiny and tight that she could see all his man-bulges, which, from that angle, were significant. Face scarlet, she averted her eyes, pretending to look at something over by the building.
A moment later, he jumped in right beside her, so close that he splashed chlorine-laden water all over her hair. Making her way quickly to the other end of the pool, she eyed him discreetly from a safe corner.
There was something about him—well, a lot, actually—that she found discomfiting. He was too slick, flawless, really, with curly black hair and blue eyes fringed with the thickest, blackest lashes she had ever seen, white teeth, and a body that was beyond perfect. There were no laughing crinkles around his eyes, no scars or calluses, no sign that he lived in the real world of hard work and joyful living. He wore a smug expression that didn’t look friendly. And that bathing suit! Sally Beth kept her distance, trying not to look in his direction.
Seconds later, a sweet-looking woman with a wild halo of dark auburn hair strolled into view. Sally Beth was struck by the sheer size of her: she was huge, both tall and broad, and typical of girls who are self-conscious about their weight, she wore a shapeless muumuu that billowed out like a stiff tent, covering her from neck to ankles. She carefully sat down on the edge of the pool, tucking her legs underneath her.
The man in the tiny bathing suit swam over to her, laying his hand on her knee, and all of a sudden, Sally Beth’s perspective changed. If this was his girlfriend or his wife, then there was more to him than she had thought, for anybody that good looking who would prefer a lovely, angelic face to a beautiful body must have some goodness in him.
“You coming in, Tiffany?” he asked.
The woman glanced at Sally Beth. “No, I’ll just sit out here awhile.” She leaned forward to dabble her hand in the water.
“Oh, come on,” he insisted, splashing water at her. “It’s hot out there.” He splashed her again, laughing as she jumped up and backed away.
“No,” she said again, but she laughed. The man pulled himself out of the pool and walked around behind her. He nudged her with his knee.
“Oh, come on! You won’t melt! I dare you!”
She stood, then turned to face him. “No, I just don’t feel like it right—” but he shoved her hard, nearly pushing her into the water. Recovering quickly, she stepped backward for a moment before she reversed her stance to lean solidly into him, then she put her hands on his shoulders and shoved him back.
It was quite a shove. The woman was as tall as he was, at least six feet or more, and her arms looked powerful. Laughing, she leaned into him again, and when he wrapped his arms around her to try to throw her into the pool, she spun quickly. A second later, so fast that Sally Beth wondered if she had missed something, the woman stood at the pool’s edge, relaxed and serene, and he was in the water.
“Hey! No fair!” he sputtered, his eyes dark and hard, despite his laughter. The woman casually reached into her bag and pulled out a cigarette.
“I’m going back into the apartment,” she said as she stuck a match. “Take your time.” She strolled nonchalantly into the building behind them, leaving pale blue smoke in her wake.
He turned his attention to Sally Beth, pushing off the side of the pool toward her and giving her a coy smile. It was time to get out, she decided, but as she glanced toward the shallow end, she felt her face go hot with embarrassment. Lilly had stepped into the glare of the white sunshine, wearing a tiny bikini almost as revealing as the man’s.
“Hi, Lawrence,” came Lilly’s voice. She strolled to the water’s edge. “Haven’t seen you in a while. How’ve you been?” She flashed him a smile that was, in Sally Beth’s opinion, a hair too friendly. Surely, she knew he had a girlfriend.
“Lil-ly!” he hollered, rolling over into a lazy backstroke. “Hey, beautiful! Missed you, too. What’s up?”
“Lots. I see you’ve met my sister. She’s come out to help me pack up ‘cause I’m moving back to West Virginia. We’re headed out day after tomorrow.” She sat by the pool and splashed at him with her foot seductively.
“Awww. Too bad!” He made a silly-looking pouty face, pursing his lips at Lilly and eyeing her legs. Sally Beth decided she had had enough. She heaved herself out of the water, picked up her flip-flops, and said, “We’d better go, Lilly.” She wanted to get her sister out of there before she made a complete fool of herself.
Oh, Lord! What a day I’ve had. I hate the desert. Which I’m sorry to say because I know You made it, but it’s so hot here. And dry. But even though I can see why they call Las Vegas “Sin City,” I did have a lot of fun. That magic show was the most incredible thing I have ever seen.
Sally Beth stopped praying then because she realized the Lord would not have approved of everything that went on that night—certainly not the way Sally Beth had handled things with her sister, who had dragged her to the casino right after the show. Sally Beth had tried to object, but Lilly grumbled about her being an old stick-in-the-mud, and she decided it would be wrong to fuss at Lilly after she had taken her to that wonderful magic act.
Lilly had marched straight up to the Blackjack table, sat down and won three hands in a row. “See?” she said. “There is nothing wrong with this. It’s just a game of skill, and you can win at it if you know what you’re doing.”
Sally Beth didn’t say anything. Something didn’t sit right in her gut, but she didn’t know how to argue. It was late, and she was tired and not thinking entirely straight, so she
simply watched while Lilly racked up a considerable pile of poker chips.
“Wanna try, Sally Beth? I’ll show you.” Sally Beth shook her head. “Come on, you sit here, and I’ll tell you exactly what to do. It’s okay. We’re way ahead, and nobody’s going to lose the farm tonight.” She stood, pushing Sally Beth into her seat.
The other players smiled at Sally Beth. Most of them didn’t look like outlaws, but the one right beside her did kind of look like he might belong to the Mafia with his slicked-back hair and gold chains showing underneath his mostly unbuttoned shirt. The girl beside him looked like a part of a matched set. She had big bosoms and lots of chains, too, and her blouse was halfway unbuttoned.
Another glance at the woman told Sally Beth that she ought to spend less time in the sun and that she should take better care of her hair. She wished she could give her some of the leave-in conditioner she had in her purse. That hair would look a lot better if it weren’t so dry and had a little shine.
Lilly was talking. “Pay attention, Sally Beth. You have a jack and a nine. That’s nineteen. The dealer has a five. That means you don’t take a card, because it’s likely he won’t do better than you’ve got without busting. Wave your hand like this.” She leaned over Sally Beth’s shoulder and passed her hand over the cards, and Sally Beth was surprised when a moment later the dealer pushed two chips over to her.
“Hey, good for you!” said the woman with the bleached out, dry hair.
Sally Beth smiled at her over the head of the man with the gold chains. “Thanks. My first time at this. I’m a little nervous.”
The woman smiled back, and it was a nice smile. Sally Beth decided her tan was kind of pretty. It made her look exotic. “Where are you from?”
“West Virginia. And you?”
“Orange County.”
“Look, Sally Beth,” said Lilly. “You got a five and a three. You want to take a hit. And another.”
The woman next to Mafia Man had a big pile of chips in front of her, but her boyfriend was losing, and he was looking sullen.
“Twenty! Ha!” said Lilly.
Sally Beth spoke to the blonde over the head of Mafia Man. “Where is Orange County?”
“California. It’s where Hollywood is.”
“Oh,” said Sally Beth. That explained a lot.
“He busted!” shouted Lilly, and Sally Beth was astonished to see her little pile of chips grow. “Sally Beth, isn’t this fun?”
Well, yes, it was kind of fun, she guessed, even though it was late and she had been up since six o’clock this morning, Tucker time, and she found the game baffling. Lilly played Sally Beth’s hand while Sally Beth talked to the blonde woman over the head of Mafia Man next to her. Sally Beth felt bad for him because he was losing, but she figured since his girlfriend was winning, they would turn out okay, and she hoped he wasn’t worrying about the rent or anything. She gave him a smile. “Don’t worry, I think she’s making up for you,” and was surprised when he glared at her and got up from the table as he downed his drink.
“Hillbilly bitch,” he sneered and walked off.
Sally Beth was taken aback at first, then she remembered that men didn’t like to lose to women, and he probably had felt that she had been making fun of him. She was about to apologize to him, but before she could open her mouth again, Lilly jumped into his seat, mumbling, “Screw you! Take a hit, Sally Beth,” and the opportunity was gone.
The woman from Orange County rolled her eyes. “Don’t pay him any attention. He’s just mad because he’s losing. He usually calls me worse than that when he loses,” she laughed. “We girls are stomping them, aren’t we?” Lilly laughed, too, and so did the dealer, and Sally Beth thought, Oh, if Mama could see us now, she would just spin in her grave. But she didn’t want to hurt the feelings of the girl from Orange County, so she laughed, too, before turning to Lilly to say, “I’m getting tired, Lilly. Why don’t we get on home now?”
“Oh, no! We got this winning streak going on. Oh, look, two aces. Thank you, Jesus! I’ll split these.”
“Lilly, don’t take the Lord’s name in vain!”
“That wasn’t in vain. I really was thanking Him.”
Sally Beth wanted to argue that it wasn’t right to thank Jesus for helping you gamble, but she didn’t feel up to it. She suddenly felt lonely and homesick, and she knew for certain that Lilly wouldn’t let herself be dragged from this place even if it was on fire.
The woman from Orange County leaned toward her. “So what do you do in West Virginia? I’m Carla, by the way.”
Sally Beth perked up. “I’m Sally Beth, and I’m a hair stylist.” She thought for a second and added, “and a cosmetologist. But mostly I just do hair. This is my sister, Lilly.”
“Oh yeah? I need to do something with this mess,” said Carla. “I got it colored last week and the woman did an awful job on it. See how dried out it is?” she said, running her hands through it and lifting the ends with a grimace. “Yours is so pretty. Is it naturally that color?”
Sally Beth saw her opportunity. “Oh yeah, but it takes some work, it’s so fine and delicate. Hey, I have some leave-in conditioner that’ll put some shine right back in your hair. I use it.” She rummaged around in her purse to find a small tube. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to try it out on you.”
Lilly glared at her. “Sally Beth! Don’t you dare. You can’t be rubbing stuff in people’s hair right here in the middle of the casino! People will think you are nuts. Don’t take a hit. You’ve got sixteen and the dealer is showing a six.”
“Don’t be silly, Lilly. There’s people acting crazy all over the place here and nobody pays one bit of attention. See that woman hollering over there?”
“It’s okay,” spoke up Carla. “I wish you would do something with this. You hair is so shiny. And your sister’s too. Does she use it?”
“Yes, and it’s real easy. Here, I’ll just work some of it through your hair. You’ll be amazed.” She opened the tube and put a small dollop in the palm of her hand as she got up to move behind her. “Lilly you can play my hand,” she said, plunging her hands into the woman’s tresses and massaging vigorously.
“Sally Beth, you are embarrassing the heck out of me. Hit her,” Lilly said to the dealer. “Hit her again. It looks plain trashy to be rubbing stuff in people’s hair you don’t even know right here in a public place. Hot dog! Dealer busted again! I’m going to up my bet. You want me to up yours, too?”
“Sure, okay. Oh, gosh, this is making a big difference already. Here, I’ll brush it through to get it distributed better.” She pulled a brush out of her purse and went to work. “Oh, that looks so much better! I’ve got a mirror in here so you can see. Isn’t that nice?”
“Shoot, I shouldn’t have taken that card. Oh my, yes! I can really tell a difference.” She smiled tentatively at Sally Beth. “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but you sort of remind me of Elly Clampett on the Beverly Hillbillies. I mean, that’s a compliment.”
Sally Beth nearly grimaced, particularly after what the boyfriend had just called her, but she could tell the woman was being sincere, and she did not want to offend her by acting put-out.
“Well, I will take it as a compliment, then. Elly May’s real pretty.”
“Yes, you do look like her, but you’re really sweet, too, like she is. Sort of innocent. Not spoiled. I really appreciate you fixing my hair.”
“Oh, you’re welcome. It’s so dry out here, no wonder your hair is dried out. Mine would be, too.”
“Darn it!” exclaimed Lilly. “That was lucky. He took five cards and managed to pull out a twenty-one.”
“Are you starting to lose, Lilly?” Sally Beth was tired and feeling anxious. The blonde with the now-shiny hair had lost three hands in a row. “Shouldn’t we go now? I’m real tired.”
Lilly sighed, “Okay, Sally Beth,” she said, then seeing the tiredness in her sister’s face, she added, “It’s time we got you home.”
Lord, I can
see why You don’t like gambling. But I did like meeting Carla. You never know how nice people can be. Just goes to show I shouldn’t be quick to judge. She yawned. Give my love to Mama and Daddy, okay? And Holy Miracle. I sure do miss them all. Sally Beth rolled over and fell into a dead sleep.
August 7, 1978
They spent the day packing up Lilly’s belongings and then had an early dinner before going to the Sinatra concert, which, Sally Beth decided, was the highlight of her life. She didn’t know which was harder: not singing along with Mr. Sinatra or enduring the dirty looks of all the people around her when she did. It also was hard not to dance out of the auditorium when it was over. “Strangers in the Night” was buzzing around in her head so beautifully, it was all she could do to walk steadily, one foot in front of the other. She thanked Lilly for bringing her a dozen times, as they strolled back through the casino.
“I’m thirsty. Let’s get a drink before we go home,” Lilly suggested, nudging her through the crowds toward a plush lounge. To Sally Beth’s surprise, she soon found herself sitting at a bar across from a grinning Lawrence.
“Hey, ladies. What can I do you for?” he wiggled his eyebrows at Lilly. She pretended to roll her eyes, but Sally Beth caught the smile she flashed at him. “Surprise us,” said Lilly.
“Nothing strong,” broke in Sally Beth.
“Hey, let the man do his job. Bring us something special. Something Sally Beth will like. She’s about to die from the heat here.”
“I got just the thing.” Lawrence kept up a lively chatter as he dished ice and a variety of liquids into glasses. “You ladies having a good time? I’m getting off in about an hour, and I’m happy to show you around town, some of the—ahem—special places I know about.”
The Women of Jacob’s Mountain Boxed Set Page 48
